Way too many to list but I’ll throw one out. Do you like Radiohead, REM, The National, Pixies, Frank Turner, or Dinosaur Jr.? Well, they (or their lead singer) all love Mark Mulcahy’s music enough to have recorded a cover song for the tribute album when Mark’s wife passed.
Mark led the band Miracle Legion, released some solo work, and led the band Polaris (not the metal band from Australia), best known as the band from the show The Adventures of Pete & Pete. Also noteworthy: Miracle Legion toured and released an EP with The Sugarcubes, aka Bjork’s band.
Song recommendations: The Backyard, All For The Best by Miracle Legion - Hey Sandy, Saturnine by Polaris - Taking Baby Steps, The Fiddler, Hey Self Defeater by Mark Mulcahy.
Album recommendations: Drenched by Miracle Legion, Music from The Adventures of Pete & Pete by Polaris, and Fathering by Mark Mulcahy.
Knower - pretty fucking sweet music with a good sense of humor.
They are definitely one of the most criminally underrated bands. But they’re all DIY, so they’re pretty popular for a DIY band. I think Genevieve’s solo stuff really deserves more attention as well. Louis seems to be doing alright for himself, though.
Easily Fish in a Birdcage, my number one vibeing artist.
Neko Case! The voice of God with red hair, I call her. Also her other supergroup band The New Pornographers is amazing. A one of a kind voice.
Also Drive-By Truckers should be considered a worldwide treasure.
The Revivalists are an incredible bluesy rock band, but everything of theirs on the radio is their blandest stuff. They really excel with live performances and amazing instrumentals.
“It Was a Sin” builds slow but gets really high energy by the end
“Soul Fight” has a top notch saxophone solo
Here’s a full concert at Red Rocks
They are a really good live act, better than the records, the show is great.
There’s a really underrated band from Vancouver called Slightest Clue that just put out an album. Alternative/punk and very fun
Jukebox the ghost. Criminally underrated, they’d have been as big as queen or muse if they had the right publicity and timing.
The Tallest Man on Earth. Probably the best modern folk artist, but not as well known as he should be.
Aimee Mann. One of the best songwriters of the 90s and 2000s. Popular, but not as much as she should be.
Placebo.
Talk Talk. Spirit of Eden is one of the greatest albums ever made, but not many people know about it.
Tallest man is really good. And if you see him live, his tallness will surprise you.
BONES/ Surrender Dorothy. he’s gained a lot more listeners over the past few years so more people are discovering his music
Panpticon, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Chat Pile, Ashenspire, Swans, Obongjayar, Black Midi, and emancipator
Don’t know your other artists but I frickin love emancipator. I’ve listened to every album hundreds of times, not exaggerating. Have you heard Kinack? Not the same but if you like one you might like the other. I’ll have to check out your list when I can use my good speakers.
Haven’t heard them, no, I’ll have to give them a look! The rest of my recs are wildly different so they aren’t for everyone who likes emancipator, haha.
Emma Ruth Rundle
TR/ST
Ionnalee
Keosz
Rival Consoles
I Will Keep Your Ghost
Moon Cathedral
Russian Circles
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Thank You Scientist
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Tesseract
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Panzerballett
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Ado
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Anderson .Paak: I know he’s pretty popular but I feel like it’s mostly because of his Silk Sonic stuff. His solo albums are great, especially Malibu. He’s an incredibly talented musician and entertainer. I would strongly recommend anyone watch his Tiny Desk if you haven’t already.
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Atlus: Pumps out a lot of music, not all of them are bangers. But he has a lot of good songs.
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Josh A / iamjakehill: I grouped them because they do a lot of music together but they are each fantastic on their own. Save Our Souls is such a great album.
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Brothers of Metal: Fun power metal band that makes music about Norse mythology. Makes you want to ride out into battle. I’ve shown this band to multiple people who are not metal/power metal fans and they love it.
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Lorna Shore: I know Through the Hellfire went viral and they are pretty popular for a Deathcore band. But they definitely deserve more recognition. I used to listen to a lot of Deathcore in high school 15 years ago and Lorna Shore single handedly got me back into it. I must’ve listened to all of Pain Remains at least 50 times. I can’t get enough of Ramos’s vocals and Archey’s drumming.
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Light the Torch: If you loved Killswitch Engage with Howard Jones vocals then you will love this.
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My kids say I don’t have a good handle on which bands are popular, just listen to what I like and then get surprised when one band comes to play the stadium and another a little bar. So they taught me to look at the count of YouTube subscribers and these guys are way more good than popular
Joshua Ray Walker
Ramsay Midwood
And famous but not nearly as popular as they are good?
Janelle Monae
Parker Millsap
Inhaler
Gone but never got the success they really ought to have gotten. We saw these guys any chance we got they were so freaking amazing.
J Roddy Walston and the Business
Janelle Monae is fantastic, an all around great creative person. She’s been getting recognition for her acting at least.
Dirt Poor Robins, Fish in a Birdcage, and Burn The Ballroom.
